Networks and cities' news

Meet the partners: interview with Harry Hofman

[[{"fid":"46841","view_mode":"default","fields":{"alt":"Harry Hofman","title":"Harry Hofman","height":100,"width":100,"style":"height: 100px; width: 100px; margin: 10px; float: right;","class":"media-element file-default","data-delta":"1","format":"default","field_file_image_alt_text[und][0][value]":"Harry Hofman","field_file_image_title_text[und][0][value]":"Harry Hofman","field_author[und][0][value]":"GBN Groep"},"link_text":null,"type":"media","field_deltas":{"1":{"alt":"Harry Hofman","title":"Harry Hofman","height":100,"width":100,"style":"height: 100px; width: 100px; margin: 10px; float: right;","class":"media-element file-default","data-delta":"1","format":"default","field_file_image_alt_text[und][0][value]":"Harry Hofman","field_file_image_title_text[und][0][value]":"Harry Hofman","field_author[und][0][value]":"GBN Groep"}},"attributes":{"alt":"Harry Hofman","title":"Harry Hofman","height":100,"width":100,"style":"height: 100px; width: 100px; margin: 10px; float: right;","class":"media-element file-default","data-delta":"1"}}]]The City of Utrecht is one of the partners of the Action Planning Network URGE, in which it develops a new action plan to promote circularity in the building sector. Utrecht is the hometown of many frontrunners on the theme of circular construction, some of them have been active for over ten years. One of these frontrunners is GBN, a construction company that works on reuse of building materials and elements. We spoke to Harry Hofman - director for circular materials at GBN, about the past, present and future for circular construction in Utrecht.

How to succeed by daring to fail - URBACT ROOF cities testing context specific actions to end homelessness

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This article is also available in:
- Romanian
- Polish

Focus on Poznan (PL): Our respons to the housing needs of the underprivileged

In Poznan, the department in charge of the realization of housing policy pursued by the Mayor and City Council is the Office of Housing Affairs. The Office's responsibilities include, among others, developing solutions, projects and programs to meet the housing needs of Poznan society. Moreover, the Office co-creates the rent policy in the city's housing resources and provides the Mayor with knowledge on the housing needs of Poznan inhabitants as well as ways of satisfying them.

As part of the City of Poznan's housing policy, housing projects are implemented to suit various needs so that each person in need of housing support can find something for themselves.

Focus on Thessaloniki (GR): testing the Housing First methodology on a small scale

Just last month, a homeless man, Kostas Pavlidis, known to most Salonicans strolling in the city center died on the streets in the center of the city amidst a rare cold wave soaring across the country. He had for a period of time stayed at the homeless shelter run by the Municipality, was known to Municipal and NGO homeless services but it was clearly not enough nor tailored to support a homeless person with multiple issues. The details of this specific case aside, the truth is that homeless shelters have not proven to be the most effective
long-term solution to homelessness and in times of crisis, so bluntly evident during the pandemic, shelters were unable to ensure protection, safety and health services to most homeless, let alone cover complex needs of individuals in a street situation.

Focus on Timisoara (RO) - How knowledge can contribute to fighting homelessness

Timisoara decided to join the ROOF network because, like in many other European cities, homelessness is more and more present and we wanted to learn new ways towards ending it. Housing First approach to end homelessness is seen as the most effective especially when working with people with complex social needs. During the transnational meetings we could see good examples of how this approach is used in more than half of the cities from the ROOF network to successfully improve the life of people and take them out of homelessness. Still Romania and Timisoara were not familiar with the Housing First approach and most of the URBACT Local Group members never heard of it. So, we decided that in order to draw an accurate and achievable Integrated Action Plan we need to use the Small-Scale Actions to gain more knowledge on Housing First approach.

Biodiversity in cities depends on pollinators as much as on responsible residents

Without bees 75% of our food plants would not yield any fruits at all, there would be a major economy loss in crop production, wildflowers would not ripen seeds and biodiversity would drastically decrease. Numerous great initiatives started lately to protect bees and their pollinator counterparts – they deserve our support as they also help us.

To support cities administration initiative on biodiversity preservation and to show them diverse good practices on how to involve their citizens, institutions and economy to play active role in it BeePathNet cities developed Guidelines – The evolution steps toward a Bee friendly city supported with good practices.